A mother, a writer, a happiness-seeker and self-improvement junkie navigating through life in the city.

Have you guys heard of Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning? It’s based on the premise that how you start your morning determines the quality of your day which in turn determines the quality of your work and then ultimately determines the quality of your life.

I first heard about the Miracle Morning in the spring and I was all about it. I incorporated it into my schedule the very next day. It was pretty easy to remember the steps of the Miracle Morning using the the acronym “S.A.V.E.R.S.” I just needed to remember how much to spend on each.

I followed the Miracle Morning exactly how I learned it. To a T. I think that’s probably where my problem started.

S – Silence (5 minutes) – The first step is to spend 5 minutes meditating. I admit I didn’t do this step immediately after I woke. It usually wasn’t until I pee’d and then let Saber pee. Only then did I have my moment in silence.

A – Affirmations (5 minutes) – I then spent 5 minutes reciting my list of affirmations from top to bottom. And my list is pretty long.

V – Visualization (5 minutes) – I created an album on my phone which contains images of all the things that I hope for and wish for in my life. A picture of my dream vacation spot, a picture of my dream bedroom, a picture of the book display at SFO because I dream of having a book of my own available to the masses in an airport book display in the future. For 5 minutes, I would just peruse this album over and over again.

E – Exercise (20 minutes) – With the help of a couple of workout videos on YouTube and my Get Fit playlist on Spotify, I got through this 20-minute step of the Miracle Morning with little self-resistance. This is a lot for someone who thought all the walking I did on a daily basis was enough to count as working out and exercise.

R – Read(20 minutes) – Hands down my favorite part of the morning ritual. I had no problem with this one and always questioned whether my timer was broken when the 20 minutes were up.

S – Scribe (5 minutes) – Bringing up the rear is this last step of writing freely for 5 minutes. I used the 750 Words website for this step and like the step before, I often felt like I never had enough time to write everything that was on my mind.

In those first few weeks of practicing the Miracle Morning, all in an hour, I was feeling really good about myself. I remember telling a colleague that it helped to know that I had already the things that I should be doing (exercising) and want to be doing (reading, writing) early in the morning. It gave me a feeling of satisfaction knowing that I actually made time for myself and got it out of the way I might add before my day got busy. It was the best feeling.

Oh but then life got in the way.

Some mornings I would wake up so late that I didn’t have time to complete all the tasks in under an hour. So what went by the wayside? Reading and writing. My favorites of all the tasks.

When that started happening I told myself, “Self, since you’re not waking up early enough maybe you can break up the hour and do your favorite steps in the evening.” I even went as far as scheduling an hour daily for reading and writing. Well, as you could probably imagine, with life getting really busy I ended up de-prioritizing that reading/writing hour. Oh, I kept it on my calendar. But did I ever actually read and write during that scheduled time? Nope.

It eventually got to the point where I was only doing one of the tasks in the morning and that was exercising. So much for that, right?

Luckily, I was already sold on the idea of the Miracle Morning and knew what the benefits were. I just needed to figure out how to make it work for me. And here’s how I did it.

I switched up the order of how I completed the tasks. Who said they needed to be done in the order of the word S.A.V.E.R.S anyway? I now start with reading the minute I wake up. I literally sit up on my bed when the alarm goes off, grab my iPad and read for 20 minutes. After reading, I spend 5 minutes each writing and meditating.

On days that I wake up late I follow a shortened version where I spend half the assigned time on each task. This is better than splitting them and doing half the tasks in the evenings. I already know that doesn’t work. I mean, that’s why it’s called the miracle morning, right?

I don’t take a Miracle Morning break on the weekends. I might wake up an hour later but I step complete every task just as I do during the week.

I don’t beat myself up if I skip a day. But at the same time, I don’t allow myself to skip more than a day at a time.

It feels really good to be back on track with this morning ritual. I highly recommend it to all of you who are feeling busy and rushed and like you’re in rut. I guarantee it’ll help.

Now I just need to get back on track with my ritual of staying on schedule.